A 'wedge' tornado, nearly a mile (1.
6 km) wide,
which struck Binger, Oklahoma, in May 1981
near Tecumseh, Oklahoma.
found near Tecumseh, Oklahoma.
A rope tornado in its dissipating stage, found
near Tecumseh, Oklahoma.
All tornadoes in the Contiguous United
States, 1950–2013, plotted by midpoint,
highest F-scale on top, Alaska and Hawaii
negligible, source NOAA Storm Prediction
Center.
This tornado has no funnel cloud;
however, the rotating dust cloud indicates
that strong winds are occurring at the
surface, and thus it is a true tornado.
A rope tornado in its dissipating stage,
found near Tecumseh, Oklahoma.
A 'wedge' tornado, nearly a mile (1.6 km)
wide, which struck Binger, Oklahoma,
in May 1981
Photographs of the Waurika, Oklahoma
tornado of May 30, 1976, taken at nearly
the same time by two photographers. In
the top picture, the tornado is lit by the
sunlight focused from behind the camera,
thus the funnel appears bluish. In the
lower image, where the camera is facing
the opposite direction, the sun is behind
the tornado, giving it a dark appearance
An illustration of generation of infrasound
in tornadoes by the Earth System
Research Laboratory's Infrasound Program
Composite of eight images shot in
sequence as a tornado formed in Kansas in
2016.
A sequence of images showing the birth of
a tornado. First, the rotating cloud base
lowers. This lowering becomes a funnel,
which continues descending while winds
build near the surface, kicking up dust and
debris and causing damage. As the
pressure continues to drop, the visible
funnel extends to the ground. This
tornado, near Dimmitt, Texas, was one of
the best-observed violent tornadoes in
history
A mature stovepipe tornado near Yuma,
Colorado.
A tornado dissipating or "roping out" in Eads,
Colorado.
A multiple-vortex tornado outside Dallas, Texas
on April 2, 1957.
A multiple-vortex tornado outside Dallas, Texas
on April 2, 1957.
A landspout near North Platte, Nebraska on May
22, 2004. Note the characteristic smooth,
tubular shape, similar to that of a waterspout.
A dust devil in Arizona
On May 20, 2013, a large tornado of the highest
category, EF5, ravaged Moore, Oklahoma.
Areas worldwide where tornadoes are most
likely, indicated by orange shading
Intense tornado activity in the United States. The
darker-colored areas denote the area commonly
referred to as Tornado Alley.
U. S. annual count of confirmed tornadoes. The
count uptick in 1990 is coincident with the
introduction of doppler weather radar.
U. S. annual count of confirmed tornadoes. The
count uptick in 1990 is coincident with the
introduction of doppler weather radar.
A Doppler on Wheels radar loop of a hook echo and associated
mesocyclone in Goshen County, Wyoming on June 5, 2009. Strong
mesocyclones show up as adjacent areas of yellow and blue (on
other radars, bright red and bright green), and usually indicate an
imminent or occurring tornado
A rotating wall cloud with rear flank downdraft
clear slot evident to its left rear
A map of the tornado paths in the Super
Outbreak (April 3–4, 1974)
Damage from the Birmingham tornado of 2005.
An unusually strong example of a tornado event
in the United Kingdom, the Birmingham Tornado
resulted in 19 injuries, mostly from falling trees.
A Doppler on Wheels unit observing a tornado
near Attica, Kansas
A Doppler on Wheels unit observing a tornado
near Attica, Kansas
